I have been very busy this weekend, and unusually, I have stuck to one project all weekend: my Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt in the Moda Countdown to Christmas fabrics. I started this last month as a class at our local shop and we concentrated on blocks with flying geese units. I had completed the first four and was ready for the half square triangles. Yesterday in the class we did block#1 Tulip to introduce us to half square triangles while still doing some flying geese units. I am loving this quilt - it's so straight forward after the Farmer's Wife Blocks and the Nikki Tinkler blocks.
I got mine finished just after lunch so made a start on block #3 Star Choice. The challenge of a Jelly Roll Quilt is when a bock requires two light coloured strips for the background and you don't have two strips of the same fabric. It makes me think out of the box a bit, and how I can place different fabrics to get the effect I want. In this block I used the cream fabrics with stripes: black stripes round the outside and green stripes in the cenre. If I'm honest, this isn't my favourite block. The other challenge/problem with a Jelly Roll is with directional fabrics - it isn't possible to have them all going the same way.
Then I did block # 5 Rolling Pinwheel: again challenged by different light prints this block is very busy (and poorly photographed) but I like this one. If you were using fat quarters of this fabric you could do some great fussy cutting to get the words "love" and "joy" right in the middle or a block. I was back at home by the time I finished this one.
That was yesterday. Today I started again. First block was #6 Union Square. I think this is my favourite. It's the only block in this quilt to use quarter square triangles - I love how easy it all is with the 90/45degree multi rule from creative grids.
Block #7 Spiral was next - I knew this would be a tough one if I left it to last. I slightly rearranged the placing of the pieces (this is the only block where I've made this kind of change, though I was tempted in a few of the others). I like how this one turned out too. Again I was challenged by the light fabrics - I've used three different ones. 
Block #9 Card Trick: this block could have done with some more green in it. It seems almost plain against some of the other blocks.
Block # 4 Rolling Stone: I like how this one turned out, though I wasn't sure. Once again, I used two reds instead of one.
And finally # 2 Rocky Road. I left this one till last on purpose as it seemed to be the block most suited to adding in lots of different fabrics i.e what I had left. In the instructions, 4 different fabrics are used: I used four different creams and three different reds plus a green and a black! And the result is wonderful - I love it.
I bought the sashing and border fabric yesterday, so I may have a finished quilt top by the end of the week. I'll use some of the left over Jelly Roll to make cornerposts, and there's still loads of small pieces from strips left over, so I might do a pieced backing. It would also be an excuse to buy some more of some of the fabrics in the range and use bigger pieces so you can see the full print.
I got mine finished just after lunch so made a start on block #3 Star Choice. The challenge of a Jelly Roll Quilt is when a bock requires two light coloured strips for the background and you don't have two strips of the same fabric. It makes me think out of the box a bit, and how I can place different fabrics to get the effect I want. In this block I used the cream fabrics with stripes: black stripes round the outside and green stripes in the cenre. If I'm honest, this isn't my favourite block. The other challenge/problem with a Jelly Roll is with directional fabrics - it isn't possible to have them all going the same way. Then I did block # 5 Rolling Pinwheel: again challenged by different light prints this block is very busy (and poorly photographed) but I like this one. If you were using fat quarters of this fabric you could do some great fussy cutting to get the words "love" and "joy" right in the middle or a block. I was back at home by the time I finished this one.That was yesterday. Today I started again. First block was #6 Union Square. I think this is my favourite. It's the only block in this quilt to use quarter square triangles - I love how easy it all is with the 90/45degree multi rule from creative grids.Block #7 Spiral was next - I knew this would be a tough one if I left it to last. I slightly rearranged the placing of the pieces (this is the only block where I've made this kind of change, though I was tempted in a few of the others). I like how this one turned out too. Again I was challenged by the light fabrics - I've used three different ones. Block #9 Card Trick: this block could have done with some more green in it. It seems almost plain against some of the other blocks.Block # 4 Rolling Stone: I like how this one turned out, though I wasn't sure. Once again, I used two reds instead of one.And finally # 2 Rocky Road. I left this one till last on purpose as it seemed to be the block most suited to adding in lots of different fabrics i.e what I had left. In the instructions, 4 different fabrics are used: I used four different creams and three different reds plus a green and a black! And the result is wonderful - I love it.I bought the sashing and border fabric yesterday, so I may have a finished quilt top by the end of the week. I'll use some of the left over Jelly Roll to make cornerposts, and there's still loads of small pieces from strips left over, so I might do a pieced backing. It would also be an excuse to buy some more of some of the fabrics in the range and use bigger pieces so you can see the full print.
I'm now feeling very Christmassy.
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